


Words are Cheaper than Ammo

by Vim_Refresh



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: ALL THE SPOILERS, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, I wish more diplomacy was possible in game, Sole is manipulative, attempt at writting political negotiations, but she uses her powers for good, non-canon, peaceful ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 08:19:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7677043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vim_Refresh/pseuds/Vim_Refresh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Completely ignoring gameplay limitations, the Sole Survivor negotiates a treaty between the Minutemen, Railroad, and Brotherhood, so that together they can seize control of the Institute. Valentine is proud. Everyone lives happily ever after, because I want to be happy, and so do you.</p>
<p>Warning: this contains so many spoilers. There are spoilers for every faction and even other Fallout games.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Like many players, I was disappointed with the lack of peaceful solutions and diplomacy, especially in the main quest line. It’s especially grating, because my character heads a faction, has tons of resources, and has 11 charisma plus a fancy hat.
> 
> The dialogue system limited your ability to question and argue with faction heads about policies. Not being able to share much info or really debate was also frustrating, so my character does a lot of that here.
> 
> I wrote this to try to create an ending that I found satisfying, but writing in character is hard, and there are so many characters. Changing characters’ opinions in a halfway believable way takes forever, so this is a lot more boring than I intended. I’m posting it anyway, to help me pretend it’s canon.
> 
> Sorry if I messed up any lore, but that could be explained by it being second or third hand info.

“I’ve never been so happy I was a lawyer,” whispered Ruby to Preston.

Violence was easy. With the right weapons, the right armour, and the right backup, it was so straightforward. Peace was hard. Keeping people safe was hard. Taking on Coursers, hell, taking on deathclaws was child’s play compared to getting these people to the negotiation table. Yet here they were, Desdemona and Carrington were representing the Railroad, with Glory and Deacon standing behind them as bodyguards. Maxson and Ingram were representing the Brotherhood of Steel, with two soldiers in full power armour towering over everyone else. Ruby had chosen Hancock and Valentine as the Minutemen guards. They had given Ruby a lot of advice on her strategy, and she thought it was symbolically important for a synth and a ghoul to be present. This meeting could decide the fate of the whole Commonwealth.

“You really think this is going to work, General?” Preston asked. “I don’t think the Brotherhood is the negotiating type.”

“We’ve been through this,” Ruby replied. She lowered her voice, “The situation with Danse makes me think Maxson is either merciful or incredibly pragmatic.” Her voice started to rise with frustration, “Since I left the vault I’ve horded every scrap of information I could find, and a ton of it could help me here. I know these groups goals, and even some of their history. I have been a huge asset to both these organizations, and they know it. Everyone else might think diplomacy is dead, but I am at least going to try.”

Preston gave a little laugh. “Save the speeches for in there, man.”

“Right. Let’s get in there.”

She marched into the meeting room and sat down, trying to look more confident than she felt. “Thank you for coming,” she began, using her ‘General’ voice. “As you know, we are here to negotiate terms for a treaty between our groups. Everyone here has something in common. We all want the Institute defeated. I believe that an alliance will allow us to achieve that goal, with minimal loss of life. I am including the lives of many of the Institute personal in that. The extent of the Institute’s crimes seem to be hidden from most of its people.”

Ruby turned to Maxson. He was going to be the hardest to convince. “Remember how easily I convinced Dr. Li to leave? All I had to do was show her the truth about Virgil and the F.E.V. lab. I’m willing to bet others would be horrified too. There is disagreement on ethics among personnel; I heard some, but then the scientists were worried about the consequences of being overheard, or they were outright threatened with banishment. The only people I _know_ are involved are the high-ups in Bioscience and S.R.B. Oh, and the Director of course.” Ruby’s voice darkened as she spoke of her son, and Preston patted her back.

“And what are you planning for those who _were_ responsible?” Maxson asked. He didn’t sound angry. Well, no more angry then usual.

“I was thinking we could have a trial. I’m hoping it would give people closure, maybe even answer some questions. Maybe I’m being biased; I was a lawyer.” The joke didn’t have the effect Ruby had hoped for, but she thought Ingram might have smiled.

Ruby struggled to keep her voice even. Everyone was tense. “Some of their research could be of great value if it was controlled by someone with actual ethics, so could the facilities.”

“I know you want to avoid a nuclear explosion, but securing the entire Institute risks huge numbers of casualties, or even defeat.” Now Maxson sounded angry. They’d had this discussion before. “The risk the Institute poses to mankind is enormous. Their brand of science follows in the footprints of corporations before the war. Technology, unhindered by morality, nearly brought about our extinction.”

“I know,” Ruby agreed. “I’m prewar. I lived through all that: the New Plague, the bombs… I was an unknowing test subject for God damned Vault Tech. The Institute _absolutely_ must be stopped. I understand the risks, but if we work together we can win without destroying everything. We’re morally obligated to try.”

“Why are you so hell-bent on saving their research anyway?” Ingram suddenly cut in. We’ve gone over a lot of the data you brought back, and some of it’s interesting, but most of it’s completely pointless. Synth Gorillas? Are you kidding me? Those don’t even belong in this ecosystem.”

That seemed to amuse Carrington. “She certainly knows that. She’s done a _great_ deal of complaining about the priorities of the Institute’s research, and their methods of conducting it. Did she tell you about their gourd project?”

“What? How’d they mess up gourd research?”

Ruby saw an opportunity and cut in, “That project is a perfect example. Some of their research could have a lot of potential in the right hands. They bio-engineered these faster-growing, larger gourds. Useful, right? But to test them above ground, they didn’t get one of their synths to start a farm. No, they had their eyes on a specific farm. Did they hire the farmer? No, they kidnapped him. Then they tortured him for information so they could use a synth infiltrator to test their seeds.”

She was ranting now, but that was fine. Every face at the table looked horrified or angry. This was common ground.

“That’s not even the worst part. He had a wife and kids, and I’m pretty damn sure the Institute was going to kill them at the end of the experiment. Their terminal said ‘purge all surface evidence,’ and they seamed really fond of euphemisms.”

An uncomfortable silence followed. Ingram finally broke it.

“I don’t even know what top say.” Her voice quivered slightly. “Are they ok?”

“Physically. The first thing I did after my cover was blown was remove the infiltrator. I’d already made sure the settlement had enough defences to stop a behemoth.”

“I don’t… why… Why would they even need to destroy the evidence?” Ingram had started quietly, but ended in a rush of anger.

“They hate outsiders getting hold of their technology.”

“Their _gourd_ technology? What are they worried will happen, people will feed themselves?”

“Perhaps they’re afraid of jack-o’-lanterns,” Carrington said dryly.

Ruby held back a smile. A Brotherhood and Railroad member publicly agreeing? More than agreeing, this was friendly banter. She needed the two factions to understand each others viewpoints and to stop seeing each other as enemies. Bless Carrington and Ingram. She loved these two curmudgeons.

“We’re getting off the subject,” Desdemona said.

“Right.” Ruby replied. “Lets go back to the discussion on casualties. Elder, I know you don’t want to but your soldiers in unnecessary danger, but I think you may be overestimating the Institute’s combat abilities. They have numbers, sure, but most of their synths are weak and poorly equipped. Institute laser weapons don’t seem much more advanced than prewar ones. The Minutemen defended the Castle from them fairly easily.”

“Coursers ain’t that tough either,” Hancock added.

“Well, they can be if they catch you by surprise,” Ruby said. She knew the Railroad had lost a lot of people to courses over the years, and she didn’t want to piss them off.

Fortunately, Glory chimed in, and she clearly hadn’t taken offense. “But if you catch them by surprise… Ruby found out about a planned raid on Ticonderoga. We dug in, set up turrets and _annihilated_ the Coursers. It was hardcore.” Glory grinned at the memory.

Ruby gave silent thanks Glory had remembered not to use her codename. Maxson had been furious when he found out she was a Railroad agent, and she didn’t want to rub his face in it.

“Before we agree to anything, we need to know more about your plan,” Maxson said.

Fantastic. This boded very well. Of course, they hadn’t reached the hard part yet.

“Of course. So, I have a way in for myself and a few Minutemen. Once inside, we takeover the teleporter. Then, we can use it to bring in large numbers of Minutemen and Brotherhood troops, and move them throughout the facility. I also want to take control of doors and elevators, to inhibit the movements of Institute combatants. It should also let us imprison a bunch of the scientists in their quarters.”

“How quickly do you think you can take over their system? Ingram asked.

“I’m hoping very quickly. Apparently their core security architecture hasn’t changed much from back when they were CIT. The Minutemen and the Railroad each have an engineer. The Railroad’s has worked with Institute tech before so he should be very helpful.”

“We will not work with a group that releases dangerous technology into the wasteland!” Maxson spat.

“And we won’t work with one that would murder innocent synths,” Desdemona retorted.

Now they had gotten to the tricky part.

“I think we’ve reached the demands portion of our negotiations,” Ruby said, trying to keep in control.

“Very well,” said Maxson, leaning back in his seat. We demand “P.A.M.”

“Cute name, by the way,” Ingram quipped.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Completely ignoring gameplay limitations, the Sole Survivor negotiates a treaty between the Minutemen, Railroad, and Brotherhood, so that together they can seize control of the Institute. Valentine is proud. Everyone lives happily ever after, because I want to be happy, and so do you.
> 
> Warning: this contains so many spoilers. There are spoilers for every faction and even other Fallout games.

So the Brotherhood knew about PAM. Hopefully, they didn’t know her location. After Ticonderoga, Ruby and Carrington had convinced Des to move the safe houses and HQ, in case they were compromised too, and Ruby had always thought HQ was stupidly easy to find, with the red line leading to it and all. This PAM thing could actually wind up working in the Railroad’s favour, Ruby mused. Now they had leverage.

“We won’t give you anything to help you hunt synths,” Desdemona stated coldly.

This was it, and it was terrifying. It was time to announce her main demand. Ruby took a deep breath, and tried to sound more confident than she felt. “The Minutemen want a formal promise that peaceful, sentient beings, such as Gen 3 synths and non-feral ghouls, will be granted the same rights as humans. We’ve compiled a list of what I consider universal rights.” It had taken documents a lot of late night discussions and  
consultation of historical documents to make it. Preston took this as his cue to start handing out copies.

Maxson was looked angry, very angry. He didn’t storm out though; that was promising. He also didn’t look surprised. While Ruby had hidden the fact that she was a Railroad agent, she had never hidden her opinions about synths or ghouls.

“You are the most dangerously naïve soldier I have ever met. How can you be willing to risk mankind’s future for machines?”

He wasn’t objecting to the ghouls, Ruby noted, pleased. The Brotherhood only hunted ferals. Most hated having ghouls around, but that wasn’t rare in the Commonwealth. According to their medical records, some members even picked up social diseases from ghouls. Hancock thought that was _hilarious_ when he found out. Ruby wasn’t expecting miracles. She was only after a formal policy of non-violence and assurance that those who disobeyed would face punishment. She wouldn’t settle for anything less.

Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but Desdemona beat her to it. “Synths are _not_ machines. They think and feel exactly like humans. The Institute made such perfect copies, the distinction between human and synth is meaningless.”

“Gen 3s are people,” Ruby said to Maxson. She sighed, then turned to address the Railroad. These groups would see each other’s perspectives if it killed her. “However, I understand why they are so feared. There are a great number of misconceptions about synths, held by most of the people of the Commonwealth, _understandable_ misconceptions. The Gen 3s get lumped in with the earlier models, so people think they’re just fancy robots. The only synths most people ever encounter are exposed infiltrators or shooting at them! Most peaceful synths are still in the Institute or passing as human, so no one even _knows_ they’re synths. Oh, except Valentine here, but he’s one of a kind.” She pointed her thumb over her shoulder at Nick. “Of _course_ people are going to be ignorant of synths. How would they even learn about them?”

“She wants to launch a PR campaign,” said Deacon. “Yah, I’m in charge of glitter for posters.”

Ruby gave Deacon a half smile. He was only half joking. The Railroad did a little pro-synth propaganda, like their ‘Join the Railroad’ holotapes, but the clandestine nature of their organization meant it was limited. That was a shame. People could and did change their feelings about synths. Deacon was living proof of that.

She continued, “As I was saying, not all synths still work for the Institute, some are escapees. Some have had their memories altered and don’t even know they’re synths. Also, the Institute has _way_ less control over Gen 3s than most people think. They cannot “throw a switch” to recall them; that’s why they need Coursers. They can’t remotely reprogram synths; all they can do in the field is say a verbal “recall code” and shut them down. Reprogramming of Gen 3s seems to mostly be limited to wiping or adding memories. They also need an agent to physically go to collect reports from their infiltrators.”

This wasn’t new information for the Elder. Ruby had told him all of this at Listening Post Bravo when she’d refused to execute Danse. That whole situation was somehow even more petrifying than today. She’d read the messages on their terminals, and she knew Maxson and Kells had been convinced Danse was an Institute infiltrator. Together, Ruby and Danse had persuaded Maxson that Danse was not a threat to humanity or the Brotherhood, and that he deserved to be spared. The Elder decided to fake Danse’s death, ensuring his authority wouldn’t be undermined. Ruby was actually quite pleased with that decision. By that point, word of Danse’s identity had spread throughout the Brotherhood. If the Institute caught wind of it, they could send a Courser after him. With the damn recall code, Danse could be captured, and that could actually threaten the Brotherhood. By that point, a faked death would help keep Danse free, and was thus the best possible outcome, at least while the Institute still existed.

Maxson had called his decision the execute Danse the most difficult he’d ever given, and had referred to his later decision as “mercy,” but he had also said it was only because of her. He did need her, and making her an enemy was a grave mistake. Mercy or pragmatism… she wasn’t sure which had guided his decision. She hoped it was both. She was trying to appeal to both.

She’d negotiated with Maxson in the past. The first time was when Proctor Teagan gave her an “off the books” mission to “requisition” part of the harvest from one of her farms “by whatever means necessary.” Not wanting other soldiers taking advantage of settlers if Teagan gave them the same instructions, Ruby decided to go over his head. The Elder had seemed displeased to learn of Teagan’s methods, but then again, he usually seemed displeased. That was assuming he wasn’t feigning ignorance of the matter in the first place.

Maxson had agreed with her appraisal of the situation and readily agreed to the alternative she proposed. The Brotherhood would continue their patrols and would aid civilians, if they ran into any being attacked. The fewer hostiles on the roads the better, for everyone, and Ruby worried about her provisioners. In exchange, the Minutemen would give the Brotherhood their surplus food. There was quite a lot of it, since they had a fair number of robot workers who didn’t need any. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Ruby knew it had to be lurking in the back of the Elder’s mind, that her Minutemen were feeding his army. She hoped it would encourage his cooperation.

Of course, she didn’t just have to convince the Elder; she had to make a compelling enough argument so that the rest of the Brotherhood would understand his decision. Ruby knew that years ago, in the Capital Wasteland, there had been a schism in the Brotherhood caused by ideological differences. Maxson wouldn’t want history to repeat itself. Ruby wished his guards weren’t wearing helmets, so she could see how they were taking her arguments.

“The Gen 3s are almost entirely organic, as I’m sure you know by now from the dissection of the corpse I got you. They have human intelligence, and they have human emotions; I know one Courser was afraid of heights. They have personalities; the Institute chooses synths who display certain personality traits to train into Coursers. They have freewill; otherwise, they wouldn’t escape. They’re people.”

“Free will is part of what makes them so dangerous.”

“Bullshit,” Glory spat. “How is our freewill any more dangerous than humans?”

“I can explain the their thinking,” Ruby quickly cut in. Maxson’s explanations of why he considered synths dangerous were passionate but low on facts. She had found the explanation Danse gave in Fort Strong more persuasive and succinct. “The Brotherhood is afraid that eventually synths could decide that they should be the superior life form and wipe out humans. If they took over the Institute, they would have all that tech on their side, including synth production.”

The Railroad members looked sceptical. That was fair. Ruby didn’t want them to believe it, just understand why the Brotherhood did. There were historical factors that Ruby was certain had led the Brotherhood to their opinion.

“The Brotherhood knows about similar things that have happened before. Ever listened to what super mutants scream when they shoot at you? About how ‘human time is done’ or whatever? Well there are super mutants on the West coast, made with a different strain of F.E.V, and lot are way smarter than the ones out here. Way back, they were in an army, under the control of a ‘Master’ who wanted to turn all humans into super mutants. Super mutants are sterile though, so that was a terrible plan.”

“I’m sure you’ll be willing to state your sources?” Carrington asked suspiciously.

Ruby smiled. It was a very reasonable question. “Brotherhood terminals, documents, discussions with members. Also, a very well travelled, prewar ghoul confirmed it. She’s been to California, and she should be relatively non-biased.” That ghoul was currently working for Ruby as a spy for the Minutemen, but she wasn’t sharing _that_ information.

“The next example is from the Capital Wasteland, about ten years ago. You know Project Purity, the massive water that purifies so much water it’s removing rads to the point it’s changing the surrounding environment? There was a ZAX supercomputer called John Henry Eden, and he was self aware. He led the Enclave, and apparently, he wanted to contaminate the water produced by Project Purity so it would kill anything even slightly mutated or irradiated. That’s basically all life. So that contributed to the Brotherhood’s fear of AI.”

Ruby wished these groups two groups had found a way to explain their reasoning to each other before today. They were both too quick to resort to violence, even Desdemona had disappointed her that way. When the Prydwen arrived, Des had given a speech claiming there was no possibility of peace. Ruby was desperate for that seemingly impossible peace. Most people in each group were trying to do what they thought was right. The Railroad was so selfless, and she owed a lot to Doctor Amari. There were tons of assholes in the Brotherhood, sure, but there were still plenty of good people, and disagreements about certain policies. Haylen was perfect: a brave, compassionate angel. One Brotherhood soldier had said he wished they hadn’t lost Danse, and called him “one of the best.” He’d said this _to Ruby’s face_ , when everyone thought she had executed Danse. That took balls, as well as morality. Ruby’s heart would break if either group were destroyed.

She pulled her mind back to its task. “When the Institute is defeated, we can destroy the technology to produce synths. They won’t have the numbers to wipe out humans, even if they wanted to.” She’d been trying to spread this idea throughout the Brotherhood ever since she’d learned how synths were made.

“What if the scientists rebuild the technology?” Maxson asked. He had previously ignored her arguments about post-Institute synth production, but he was clearly paying attention now.

“The machines they use to make Gen 3s are huge. If we keep tabs on the scientists, there’s no way they could rebuild them in secret. We’ll be doing that anyway, to prevent them organizing against us. We’ll also destroy a most of the research on synth creation, same as with F.E.V. research. I want to keep the records of everything they did to their test subjects though; that shouldn’t be forgotten.” Ruby scowled. The F.E.V. labs made her sick. She was pretty damn vocal about it too, and that had earned her some major brownie points from the Brotherhood.  
  
Maxson suddenly stood up. “Paladin, a word in private.”

To Ruby’s surprise, Maxson shook his head when Ingram started to rise as well. Very interesting. She led him off to an empty room.

“What are you plans if you don’t get your treaty?”

“Then I go with the Minutemen’s plan. It’s basically the same as your’s. We’ll blow up the reactor, taking out the whole facility.”

“It’s a risk, to use untrained, non-military personal. You should use your brothers and sisters.”

“Some have had training. I also plan on supplementing them with combat robots.” Ruby paused for a second. “When we first met, you said you cared about the people of the Commonwealth. So do I, but I include synths as its people.”

“You’re willing to risk a great deal for beings that should never have been granted life.”

“That’s not their fault.” She sighed and continued, “Considering the Institute wiped out my vault and experimented with F.E.V. to make them, I’m inclined to agree with you. But we can’t punish synths for their creators’ crimes. It’s … unjust.”

“They’re abominations,” said Maxson with frustration.

“Subjective and irrelevant.”

“I can’t just change our mission here.”

His voice was still angry and frustrated, but Ruby detected a hint of something else. Fear perhaps? She looked at him and was struck by how exhausted he looked. She pitied him, had pitied him ever since she’d learned how young he was. The stress of command had aged him beyond his years and, judging by his quarters, given him a drinking problem. Perhaps he was afraid of not meeting the Brotherhood’s expectations? Time for a slightly different strategy.

“You won’t really be changing it; you’ll be refining it based on additional Intel and changing circumstances,” she replied in a gentler tone. “I remember your speech aboard the Prydwen. You said the Brotherhood was here to stop the Institute’s dangerous experiments, especially their synths. We _are_ going to stop those experiments. I want to set up an ethics board to approve all future experiments, and I want the Brotherhood to be part of it. We’re going to stop synth production. It’ll be a top priority to stop any synth or scientist who tries to undo our changes to the Commonwealth. Your goals will be met. The Brotherhood will be seen as reasonable and capable of diplomacy, and it will still have the glory of victory. The Commonwealth’s environment will be spared the radiation of the blast, and her people will be safer than they have been in centuries. Your people love you, Elder. Explain your reasoning, and they’ll understand.”

“I hope I’m not repeating the history of the Outcasts,” Maxson muttered. “Very Well. If negotiations continue as they are, the Brotherhood of Steel will abide by your treaty.”

“Excellent,” said Ruby with a huge, genuine smile. “Let’s get back in there and finish this.”

They returned to the meeting room, which was clearly tense without Ruby’s presence.

“Thank you for your patience,” said Ruby cheerfully as she sat down. “Let’s continue.”

“We need a moment with you first,” said Desdemona.

The Railroad members headed to the room Ruby had just returned from. Damn, diplomacy was taking forever. No wonder everyone resorted to violence. Ruby followed.

“I take it Maxson’s agreed?” Desdemona asked. At Ruby’s nod she scoffed. “You can’t honestly believe he means to keep his word.”

“As long as he keeps it until we seize the Institute, I’ll consider it a win. We need an army for this, Des. While the others concentrate on fighting, the Railroad can evacuate synths. You said we’d still have to hide them from Commonwealth vigilantes; we can hide them from the Brotherhood too. They seem to be terrible at finding Gen 3s, and I plan on destroying the records of synth identities and recall codes.”

“So we work in secret, like we’ve always done.”

“Not quite. You know how I feel about memory wipes.”

“Oh dear lord,” muttered Carrington.

Ruby was very vocal about her dislike of the wipes. The memories weren’t just erased, they were replaced. She felt that memories and the beliefs they helped shape comprised too much of a person for the wipes to be justified. When the Institute performed them, she considered it akin to murder. When the Railroad did, she thought of it as similar to assisted suicide. Plus, the synths would have no idea they had to protect themselves from bigots. Ruby knew of two cases where that had been a problem. Those were just successful memory wipes. Failed ones could leave a synth brain damaged or brain dead, like Glory’s old friend. Ruby had been devastated when H2-22 had been wiped. She’d felt vindicated when she’d found Acadia, full of synths who also disliked the wipes.

“Are you actually making that a condition? Stopping _voluntary_ wipes? Desdemona asked incredulously.

“Yes, or at least used way less. I am not working so hard to free these people, only to have so much of what makes them who they are torn out. With the Institute gone, the paranoia will die down, and Coursers will stop hunting them. I don’t have a problem with changing their faces, just the wipes. Keep sending them to Acadia or the settlements I have on the island. If they don’t like it there, they can choose to move, after they’ve learned how to fit in a bit.”

That led to a discussion of when the wipes should be allowed, and how some synths wanted to be rid of traumatising memories. It was eventually settled. Memory wipes would an absolute last resort, as opposed to now, where they were basically the default. If a synth was spent a long time at a synth community but didn’t want to stay and couldn’t learn to pass as a human, then they could become eligible. Some of the Railroad were still concerned about unwiped synths being discovered and lynched, if they lived among humans. Ruby however, had great faith in their abilities. In her opinion, synths seemed to adapt quickly once finally allowed to act like people. She would also make clear to the Commonwealth’s people that murdering synths would not be tolerated, and she had more faith in their morality than Des did. Synths would be safer than they had ever been, so she doubted many would choose the wipe.

Glory worried about the earlier models of synths. Ruby had never seen Gen 2s demonstrating consciousness like Gen 3s, Valentine, or DiMA; and she had looked. Still, if it could be demonstrated that they possessed proper sentience, they would be covered by her treaty. She had been extremely particular with her wording.

“And remember guys, if the Brotherhood becomes a problem, _I_ will deal with them. I have several potential contingency plans for if they break the terms of our agreement.” Ruby thought her plans were superior to Red Glare. “But do let me know if you learn anything.”

Des nodded, “And we’ll try to prepare our safe houses for the incoming synths.”

“I’ll be able to help with supplies,” Ruby promised. When she’d first hacked PAM’s terminal, she’d been demoralized by how few synths the Railroad was actually able to save. That was about to change. “I believe that together, we are about to free more synths than the Railroad has helped in its whole history. Let’s get to it.”

“Hell yes!” agreed Glory, and she led the way back to the main room.

From then on, it was just sorting out details; printing, reading, and changing documents. The atmosphere was entirely different now. The tension had broken.

The Minutemen and the Brotherhood agreed not to plan assaults with artillery or Liberty Prime without first consulting the others. That idea was that sharing intel would greatly reduce the risk of friendly fire.

Likewise, the Railroad promised not to have PAM to work on projects without knowledge of the others. For the foreseeable future, she would predict mutual threats, focussing on preventing Institute regrouping or counterattacks. Everyone suspected Coursers would be a problem.

Prime wasn’t finished yet, but he would be. Ruby was planning on using him to empty the facility of some of its troops, and to keep the Institute’s focus off the Minutemen sneaking inside. Giant robots were very distracting. Prime would be the Brotherhood’s reward for cooperation, or punishment for betrayal. He was one of Ruby’s secret contingency plans. Her ghoul spy had acquired a copy of Prime’s programming, including his security. She could hack Liberty Prime, but if Maxson was a man of his word like he claimed, she wouldn’t have to.

Finally, the document was finished. The leaders signed with cautious hope.

The other groups left to begin their final preparations. Ruby gleefully hugged her companions.

“Didn't think I'd ever see the day,” Hancock said. “Heh, I think you may have that despot wrapped around your finger.”

“Thank you for not calling him that to his face,” Ruby replied. “Speaking of Maxson, I’ve got something to discourage him reneging on his promise. I’m positive he wants his people to view him as honourable, so lets make sure they know about the treaty, just in case.”

She flipped through papers. “Here we go: a summary of our deal. Piper can print it, and Radio Freedom and Diamond City Radio can broadcast it. Travis owes me a favour.”

“General, won’t that also inform the Institute?” Preston sounded a little confused.

“Yes, but there’s no sensitive info in those summaries, and I _want_ the Institute to know. Some of them might start thinking about surrender.”  
  
Smiling, Nick volunteered to deliver the announcement to Piper and Travis. “It's hard to even wrap your head around, that the Commonwealth could be at peace soon,” he said. “It will be fragile,” he added pensively.

“Peace always is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ticonderoga’s fate made me sad, so I changed it.
> 
> I’ve been uncomfortable with the morality of memory wipes ever since Fallout 3, and was happy when Far Harbor discussed it. From a practical standpoint, my Sole is also worried the wipes might leave synths not even knowing they need to protect themselves. Desdemona’s dialogue after the Institute’s destruction implies lots of synths are sent to the Capital Wasteland. The Brotherhood is supposed to have a significant presence there, so, to avoid any horrifying consequences, my head canon is that Sole succeeds in getting the Brotherhood to play nice.
> 
> Fallout 4 doesn’t seem to provide a clear answer to Maxson’s chapter’s policy on non-feral ghouls (and we can’t ask questions about it, boo). They don’t kill any in game, and there seem to be no plans to do so (for example, The Slog is fine after a Brotherhood victory). For the purposes of this story, they don’t kill innocent non-ferals; they’re just horrible, horrible bigots.
> 
> It drives me crazy that wastelanders and the Brotherhood are so ignorant/misinformed about synths, and we can never inform them. The conversation would make perfect sense as part of the plot of Blind Betrayal. Maxson and Kell’s terminals have so much inaccurate info, and we can’t address any of it. As for wastelanders, we have a radio station! Pro-synth propaganda should be a thing!
> 
> The ghoul spy is entirely non-canon. I just use her to conveniently provide lore and robot codes. 
> 
> I personally hope Bethesda doesn’t make killing Maxson cannon. He’s probably the best developed faction leader in 4, since he was also in 3. I feel really sorry for him. In 3, the poor kid was under way too much pressure, and wanted to make friends with Liberty Prime. My personal headcanon is that the Sole Survivor, being a high ranking officer and destroyer of the Institute, can have a positive influence on him. He’s only 20, and he already adopted Lyons’ policy ending isolationism. I like ‘redemption’ stories more than ‘everything explodes’ ones. I know lots of people hate him (for legitimate reasons), so I left his motivations ambiguous in this fic.
> 
> All the endings seem to be pretty headcanony. People who want ‘good karma’ type endings for Institute or Brotherhood headcanon using their position/rank to improve policy. People who want ‘good karma’ type endings for Minutemen and Railroad need to headcanon the creation of some sort of government and/or replacement as General, so the Minutemen don’t fall apart again after the Sole Survivor’s death. I miss ending slides. Mama Murphy’s visions are too vague.
> 
> This ended up longer than I planned. I hope I didn't mess up anyone's favorite characters. Some could be interpreted multiple ways, and writing dialog in character is so tricky. Thank you for reading my fic and my venting! ;P

**Author's Note:**

> Ticonderoga’s fate made me sad, so I changed it.


End file.
